2006   USA The Painted Veil
The Painted Veil Image Cover
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Director:John Curran
Studio:Warner Brothers
Writer:Ron Nyswaner, W. Somerset Maugham
IMDb Rating:7.5 (32,365 votes)
Awards:Won Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 3 nominations
Genre:Drama
Duration:125 min
Languages:English
IMDb:0446755
Amazon:B000NOIX48
Search:NetflixYouTube
John Curran  ...  (Director)
Ron Nyswaner, W. Somerset Maugham  ...  (Writer)
 
Naomi Watts  ...  
Edward Norton  ...  Walter Fane
Liev Schreiber  ...  
Toby Jones  ...  Waddington
Diana Rigg  ...  
Catherine An  ...  Hostess
Bin Li  ...  Te-Ming
Bin Wu  ...  Student 1
Alan David  ...  Mr. Garstin
Marie-Laure Descoureaux  ...  Sister St. Joseph
Sally Hawkins  ...  Mary
Juliet Howland  ...  Dorothy Townsend
Lorraine Laurence  ...  Sister Maryse
Johnny Lee  ...  Angry Chinese Man
Li Feng  ...  Sung Ching
Gesang Meiduo  ...  Amah
Yin Qing  ...  Student 2
Ian Renwick  ...  Geoffrey Denison
Stuart Dryburgh  ...  Cinematographer
Comments: Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people

Summary: Produced by Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, The Painted Veil works well as a movie--even better as an actor's showcase. The year is 1925. When her domineering mother pressures her to marry, Kitty (Watts) settles for shy bacteriologist Walter (Norton). Then Walter is transferred from London to Shanghai and the lonely and bored Kitty drifts into an affair with married diplomat Charlie (Liev Schreiber). When Walter finds out, he makes a startling proposition: either Kitty accompanies him to the cholera-infested countryside or he'll divorce her. With no other prospects, she comes along on what looks like a double-suicide mission. Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil was adapted by Philadelphia's Ron Nyswaner (who knows a little something about infectious diseases). As two previous versions made little impact--despite Garbo's presence in the 1934 melodrama--John Curran's film is sure to stand as definitive. Interestingly, Norton, who studied Chinese history at Yale, chose Watts as his co-star, while Watts chose Curran, for whom she appeared in 2004's underrated We Don't Live Here Anymore. Filmed on location, the handsome production is, in many respects, just as old-fashioned as its source material--sex is merely suggested and Kitty is shocked that their English neighbor (Toby Jones) has a Chinese lover--but the ending packs a feminist twist. Mostly though, The Painted Veil is about the acting, and Watts and Norton, along with Diana Rigg as a disillusioned Mother Superior, have rarely been better. --Kathleen C. Fennessy


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